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February in Review

March 03, 2017

Happy March you lovely lot! So it's March now which means I'll be 26 at the end of it (what joy) and I finally feel like I'm on my feet when it comes to life. People always say it, but you really won't have your shit together at the age you think you will and that's okay. I'm starting to feel more reassured about this but I'm also starting to see improvements in where I want to be and where I thought I'd be too so that's something!

The Personal
February has been a crazy month for me - I finished working as a teacher at secondary school and at the end of the month I left that position (heartbroken because oh my god, I love the kids) but I started my job as tutor for a charity then and I haven't looked back. Whilst I loved the kids at school, working with the kids for the charity is extremely rewarding - I feel like they're the people who need support and I'm really looking forward to getting to know them more because I already think they've got fantastic personalities and seem hilarious so I'm so excited for this next month. This month I also got to spend some time with Matthew's parents and his sister which was so so lovely because I hadn't seen them all since before Christmas and I hadn't seen them together as a full family for months so it was a such a luxury to have them in Winchester, in my hometown, and sharing lots of drinks and good food with them.

Films

Films this month kind of sat in second place to TV but one film I did watch was After Earth. After Earth is dun dun duhhh, set after Earth has been habitable and is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie starring Will Smith and Jaden Smith. They play a father and son duo which was really sweet to see on screen and made the acting so much more real and believable. The story essentially follows what is basically a space station which is training youths to join the like "space army" which Will Smith's character happens to hold quite a senior position in. This space station/ship they have happens to crash land on Earth which humans haven't lived on for years so the world is very overgrown, taken over by nature, and animals have evolved further than what they have at present. The film follows the fact that Jaden's character is a bit of a wuss and his dad isn't and he basically needs to get a bit of a backbone after the crash. The film was okay, it wasn't boring to watch but it also wasn't as amazing as it could have been. Just little things got to me where the film wasn't as consistent as it should have been and you naturally question things throughout it like "how has all of these animals totally changed through evolution so fast when this actually would have taken thousands of years?" and it just niggles away at you as you watch it. Is it worth watching? Maybe if you've exhausted all other avenues.

Television
Television has been a winner for me again this month. I caught up with the latest season of Vikings on Amazon Prime and ohhh boy, I did not see coming what happened. I won't spoil it for people but I kind of kept guessing if *that thing* was going to happen then kept thinking "surely not" but I was right, *that thing* definitely happened. It was another good season of this show and if you haven't watched it yet, I don't think we can talk until you do. When I first started watching this show I genuinely didn't see what the fuss was about but then there was an episode where someone got blood eagled and I knew I was going to love it from then on. If you like stuff like Game of Thrones or The Tudors, Vikings will be a winner for you, too.

February also saw me get a bit more caught up with American Horror Story as Matt & I blitzed our way through the whole season of Hotel in a matter of days. I can remember when Hotel first came out people were loving it and particularly loving the fact that Lady Gaga was a central character in it. I wasn't sure if I was going to love it but after the first 20 minutes of the first episode in which I saw some graphic graphic things (if you're not okay with gore and rape scenes, you might want to skip the first episode and just read about it) I knew I was going to actually like it - morbid I know. I'm really interested in the hotel the series is actually based on anyway and the fact that serial killers from real life history were characterised in the show was also amazing to see. I think this might be up there in terms of what order I would put the different AHS seasons in so if you're a fan of the weird and the bizarre, give this season I good try.

As for actual "new to Netflix/Amazon Prime" shows, the anime 7 Deadly Sins seemed to have a new series so Matt & I got very excited because despite 7 Deadly Sins being a very cheesy stereotypical anime, we both really like the story of it. Turns out it was a teaser trailer group of episodes to say "hey, a new season will be coming soon!" so just when we were getting into it, it stopped and I was fuming. But for those of you who may not have watched this but you like anime, 7 Deadly Sins basically follows those sins we all know but they're people - people who are trying to save the world but are also feared by the majority. Like I said its a very cheesy, "boys grabbing big-boobed girls who get very embarrassed" sort of anime, but the overall story is great and really different. However if anime isn't your sort of thing but humour in the style of Arrested Development or The Office is, I've got the show for you. The Last Man Earth is available on Amazon Prime and oh my god, I never thought I'd enjoy this show as much as I did. There's two seasons on there at the moment and it is honestly hilarious. It is exactly what it says in the title - it is about the last man on earth and how he is living. I don't want to say anything more about it but if you like awkward humour shows which just focus on personal relationships we develop as human beings, you need to watch this.

Music
Music in the month of February has been pretty darn good. First of all, I have to mention the fact that Lana Del Rey dropped her new song, Love, and oh my god guys, I've had it on repeat so so much. To me, this song sounds like "old Lana" aka Lana in her Born to Die phase (not her Lizzy Grant days) so I'm super excited for her next album because her latest album was not my favourite. As for album drops, there's been some fantastic ones from some of my favourites and of course, some amazing ones that are new to my ears.

Great favourites who dropped new music to my ears is Ryan Adam's newest release, Prisoner. Prisoner is a great album and I can honestly say I like it already just as much as I like his other work. It's very Ryan Adams and therefore very good. Tall Tall Trees dropped their new album too called Freedays and this is possibly one of my fave releases in the last few months if I'm being totally honest! It's a really chill album and a nice one to listen to when you're doing other things like reading, drawing, studying, doing a face mask etc etc. as it's not completely acoustic but its nice upbeat easy listening. Another chill but upbeat album, Enter the Kingdom by Frontier Ruckus, dropped this month and I'm a big fan. Frontier Ruckus somehow remind me of the indie bands of the 90s but they have an almost 70s vibe about them too so I really like their quite unique yet familiar sound.

Okay for a straight up country vibe, you guys need to give Little Bandit - Breakfast Alone a good listen. I really really like this guy despite it being a very classic country sound that I don't tend to listen to. As someone who grew up as a line dancer and who has listened to a lot of country music over the years as a result of that, Little Bandit is some producing something that is very classically country yet it sounds so refreshing and catchy. One of my all-time favourite musicians is Townes Van Zandt but he is usually reserved for sad days when I'm feeling sorry for myself but Little Bandit might be reserved for the happy days when I need a bit of a yee-ha injection in my life. Now back to a band I've listened to before, Youth in Revolt's The Broken album was a goodie this February and was a bit more my usual taste. It's very typical of them so it gets a good rating from me and if you've never given them a listen, if you like the sort of music like Circa Survive, Tides of Man, or any other bands who have quite a high-pitched male singer but a bit of a "heavier" vibe, you might just like these guys too.

Last little music mention has to be The Moomins. Yep, you read right. The Moomins soundtrack was released by Graeme Miller and Steve Shill this February and dude, I was ecstatic when I realised. It's quite 8-bit so plays homage to my teen MySpace years, but it's also The bloody Moomins and if there's one thing this girl loves, it's The goddamn Moomins. Give it a listen and let it transport you back to your childhood and make you forget your troubles.

Video Games
Okay, I know I keep harping on about it, but have you been keeping up to date with Andromeda?! It looks better and better every time I see a new release about it. I'm still a little bit hesitant to play it because I keep worrying that it will be *so* different from what I'm used to and love about the Mass Effect games but I'm super excited nevertheless. Again, I haven't played an awful lot of games throughout February buttt I will be playing as much as possible during March because I actually have time to do such things now which is amazing. If you've got any game recommendations, send them my way.

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